EVEN MARK TODD CAN BE LED ASTRAY – Part 3

The Horse and Hound is the most prestigious equestrian magazine in the UK, the equivalent of the Chronicle of the Horse in the USA. I was writing an article on horse breeding for them, including details of the ‘Holstein’ stallion Cavalier Royale, the Irish based stallion that has produced so many top class event horses, including World Silver medallist and winner of Rolex Ben Along Time and Mary King’s wonderful international pair, Call Again Cavalier and Imperial Cavalier. Their breeding editor returned my copy with a number of small changes, including deleting the fact that Cavalier Royale was half thoroughbred. I reinserted this fact and it was duly returned once again, deleted!

HIDDEN GENES IN THE SPORT HORSE WORLD

So I rang their breeding editor, whom you would have thought would understand about the hidden thoroughbred genes in so many sport horses. “No,” she said “Cavalier Royale is by the Selle Francais Cor de la Bryere out of the Holsteiner Ligustra.” So I then had to point out to her that Cor de la Byrere is two thirds thoroughbred and Ligustra slightly more than one third thoroughbred, making Cavalier Royale himself just over half thoroughbred. Therefore most of his famous offspring are three quarters thoroughbred, as they have been out of thoroughbred Irish mares. So like Mark Todd the breeding editor of the Horse and Hound had been led astray about the hidden thoroughbred genes in some very famous horses.

FIVE THOROUGHBRED GODS OF THE WARM BLOOD WORLD

What is also fascinating is that the thoroughbred genes of Cavalier Royale include those four thoroughbred gods of the warm blood world, FURIOSO, COTTAGE SON, RANTZAU, & LADYKILLER. Remember these names because, together with a fifth, LUCKY BOY, there is no statistical doubt that these five thoroughbred stallions are the equal of Northern Dancer and his son Sadlers Wells in the racing world. They are more influential than any other sires of any breeding in the jumping world….and they are thoroughbreds:

FURIOSO – (Born in Ireland 1939, stood in France) More than 50% horses in the top 20 show jumpers at the World Games in Aachen and the Olympics in Athens go back to the legendary TB Furioso. Furioso was by Precipitation, also sire of the famous Irish show jumping stallion Prefairy. Sire of supersire Furioso 11. who was himself sire 81 approved sons and 96 dams of approved sons, including the great jumping sires Voltaire, Le Mexico, For Pleasure (Marcus Ehning), & Purioso, sire of Anky Van Grunsen’s Dressage Gold medalist Cocktail.

COTTAGE SON – (Born in Ireland 1944, stood in Germany) Just as many show jumpers trace back to the Irish TB Cottage Son as to Furioso. He has made a huge impact on German warmblood breeding and was from the family of British Grand National winner Sheila’s Cottage and triple Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Cottage Rake. Sire of Valine the dam of supersire Ramiro Z (sire of Ratina Z), and of Viola the dam of the ubiquitous jumping sire Lord. Grandsire of Christine Stuckleburger’s dressage champion Granat. What is truly amazing is that he achieved all this despite being at stud in Germany for just four years.

RANTZAU - (Born in France 1946, stood in France) Rantzau holds a similar position in the Selle Francais stud book with the greatest number of top rated stallion grandsons and credited with revolutionising the breeding of show jumpers. Sire of supersire Cor De La Bryere, sire of over thirty approved stallions including Calando 1 – V1, Caletto 1 – 111, Calypso 1 – V, Cavalier Royale and Cicero, Corland, & Corrado 1 –11.

LADYKILLER – (Born in UK 1961, stood in Germany) Ladykiller, sired 35 approved stallions and 195 approved daughters and dominates Holsteiner pedigrees, that are the most successful in show jumping, to such an extent that those without his name are becoming rare. He has become the superstar influence in all the European stud books.

LUCKY BOY – (Born in Ireland, 1966, stood in Holland) Lucky Boy sired 27 approved stallion sons and is the sire of Melanie Smith’s great World Cup winner Calypso. Lucky Boy is without peer as a show jumping sire in the Dutch studbook. Also sire of the Olympic horses Van Gogh (Willi Melliger), The Freak (Hugo Simon and Dirk Hafemeister), and Anne Medrano (Anne Kursinski).

The point is that the genes of these horses all contain the classic bloodlines of the best jumping thoroughbreds from the racing world, which in turn come from flat racing. In other words the huge success of these five Gods of warm blood breeding is not a total fluke… nor was the success of this additional group of over 250 hugely successful thoroughbred sires (with multiple advanced international sons and daughters or grandchildren within the last 50 years) that I list below…. I just want to emphasize how many very important TB sires there are in the modern sport horse world and, amazingly, how they are mostly related. Most sired top performers in more than one discipline. NB This list is certainly not exhaustive but I haven’t finished my research:

What is interesting is to also present them in date order. In the twenty years after the second world war the German and Dutch breed societies made a conscious decision to import thoroughbreds to cross with their native mares to produce showjumpers, but the big question remains …. is the decline in new TB sires the result of more quality part bred sires being available (largely the sons and grandsons of the thoroughbred sires in this list…in particular the sons of the five GODS of the warm blood world), or the result of the success of the marketing policies of the breed societies, or a little of both? Some would say that the right thoroughbred types are no longer available, but the conundrum is that all the disciplines are moving towards more quality horses. The success of TB sires born in the 80’s would suggest that there are now new openings and open minds for the thoroughbred in all disciplines….if we could find the right ones!

Quite a gathering I think you’ll agree …I wouldn’t mind a couple waiting for me in our front field…and I still have much work to do especially with Australian and New Zealand thoroughbreds. These stallions all have some common ancestors which can be a real help in evaluating the breeding of new sires.

THE RIGHT ANCESTORS – 10 OF THE VERY BEST X 2

So what are the common ancestors of the above 5 TB Gods of the warmblood world and the other 70 sires? I won’t bore you with too many details and too many sires, but going a long way back there are ten names in particular that should seriously brighten your day if you find a liberal sprinkling of them on BOTH sides of the back pedigree of your horse:

11 - CHANTEUR (1942 - UK, sire of Ben Hawke the sire of Ben Faerie, & Pinza, son of Chateau Bouscaut also the sire of The Phoenix. )

For example my own stallion JACKAROO (2007), a full brother of Karen O’Connor’s Mandiba, has 39 crosses from this list of thoroughbred sires, only missing out on Orange Peel….and I emphasize that my suggestion is that we benefit from the very special mental qualities handed down by these horses as well as the physical qualities. The 15 great thoroughbred sires with names in capitals above do it all, mentally and physically….they are a truly golden list …..and a high proportion of their families really jump.

...but preeminent in this breeding is the cross of Hyperion with Pharos or Fairway, togetherwith crosses of Precipitation and Tourbillon.

THOROUGHBREDS CAN JUMP

Top Irish show jumping stallion, the ‘Irish Draught’ CLOVER HILL (1973), was in fact half thoroughbred, being by Golden Beaker. Golden Beaker’s sire had crosses of Chaucer, Bay Ronald x 2, Pharlaris, The Tetrarch, and Blandford, while his dam had two crosses of Hurry On, making him a good choice as Clover Hill’s sire. I just wish Golden Beaker had been performance tested as a youngster and had his jumping ability assessed. He might have been found to be great and more use made of him because of this.

Both because so few thoroughbreds are properly performance tested, and because many riders are unaware that many top horses have a majority of thoroughbred blood, it has become common currency in show jumping breeding circles to say that the thoroughbred is not good enough for world class show jumping. Yet three of the greatest show jumpers, World Champion JET RUN (1968), Olympic Gold Medalist TOUCH OF CLASS (1973), and double Silver medalist and top rated jumper in the world GEM TWIST (1979) were all full thoroughbreds. As far as show jumping is concerned the statistics are solid with regard to the role of the thoroughbred, even in modern times.

IT’S A FACT

In addition to the multiple World Cup winners, BALOUBET DE ROUET (1989) & SHUTTERFLY (1993), that I mentioned earlier, that are at least 50% thoroughbred, just look at this list of showjumping royalty and note their % of thoroughbred blood….

RAMZES (1937) - sire of Raimond the sire of Ramiro Z the show jumping super sire. Therefore features in a huge dynasty of European showjumpers and dressage horses. Also sire of Remus and Mariano, Harry Boldt and Joseph Neckermann's two great Olympic and World Championship dressage champions - 50% thoroughbred. LORD (1967) - features in top sire pedigree after top pedigree in German warm bloods - by Ladykiller out of mare by Cottage Son with more than 60 approved stallion sons. He is grandsire of In Style, Ian Millar’s impressive medalist at the Olympics last year - 80 % thoroughbred. JALISCO B (1975) - holds the record for number of offspring at Olympics. Carries the genes of Orange Peel x 2, Blandford, Hurry On and Dark Ronald. Sire of supersires Quidam de Revel and Quito de Baussy – at least 65% thoroughbred. QUIDAM DE REVEL (1982) – top rated sire 2003 and 2004. Carries the genes of Orange Peel x 3, Blandford x 2, Hurry On and Dark Ronald. Sire of Guidam and prolific sire of Grand Prix jumper, with 48 offspring winning International classes - at least 65% thoroughbred. QUITO DE BAUSSY (1982) - World and Olympic champion and the leading jumping sire in ’02, 2nd in ’04 and leading again in ’05 and French Gold Team medalist. Carries the genes of Orange Peel x 3, Blandford x 2, Hurry On and Dark Ronald - at least 56.25% thoroughbred. JUS DE POMME (1986) - Atlanta individual Gold medalist - arguably one of the greatest ever jumpers. Carries the genes of Hurry On x 2, Orange Peel, Blandford, & Tourbillon - 69% thoroughbred.

So if you are interested in elite performance double check that the horse you want to buy or cover your mare with has enough thoroughbred blood… because many don’t.

NOW HERE’S A SURPRISE

Finally there is a statistic which casts serious doubt on the line breeding claims of many jumping stud books and the cry from the warm blood world that you can’t find good thoroughbreds any longer….three of the four show jumping finalists at the Aachen World Games (2006) were out of daughters of TB stallions! Happy days for breeders of quality horses. Williamwww.WilliamMicklem.com

Next week….Part 4…the truth about Headley Brittannia’s husband and the connection between top dressage and jumping breeding.

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I was glad to read that someone brought up the name of the great Nearco, and thank you for your response, Mr Micklem. A few years ago I was asked to take part in the breeding issue of a well-known US sport horse magazine. The question posed was, what horse, living or dead, do you wish you had bred? What a great question, and how hard to choose just one! The one I did chose, because of his enormous impact, and continuing importance - as both a racehorse and sporthorse ancestor, was the great Nearco.
In particular, in terms of sporthorses, his influence can be seen through his son Nasrullah, his son Bold Ruler, and his son Bold Bidder.

Other important TB sires often seen in sport pedigrees are Turn-to, Royal Charger, Sir Gaylord, Princequillo,and Double Jay among others.
Many (most?) of these stallions stood in the US and their sport offspring might be better known in the US and Canada.

....as well as his natural moves observe his attitude and try to give him regular interaction with other horses...the heritability of mental qualities is a key element of what I am talking about. Enjoy him. William

My guy is an Oldenburg yearling, but I see possibly eventing in his future based on his natural moves in his pasture. :) His dam is a TB and sire a german warmblood. I find the pedigree information really interesting and really look forward to part 4.

Thanks Lisa...great to hear of your good work ..training for ottb's is hugely important as a welfare issue...I have enough info for a book and would love to do the same but it is not a great time for book publishing...but keep spreading the word and help me build a bigger audience and who knows what may be possible...thank you again Lisa and the very best of luck. William

i am looking forward to part 4 already. i am very curious to see how many internationally competing dressage horses are half or more tb bloodlines. the recognition of the tb in dressage is somthing i'm pretty involved in. i run several awards and a grant in education for dressage riders of off the track tbs. i started these awards several years ago after competing my own ottb in dressage. there is such a misunderstanding of what the ottb really is both physically and mentally. they are a really lovely animal, but misunderstood and misrepresented. i'm glad to see more and more people stepping forward to recognize the importance and influence of the tb. are you thinking perhaps of publishing your research in a book?

Lisa..thank you for your support...Three Bars was indeed a thoroughbred and the leading sire of racing Quarter Horses for many years. American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame 1989. Died April 6, 1968.
Three Bars was the sire of 29 AQHA Champions, 4 AQHA Supreme Champions, 317 Racing Register of Merit earners, and his foals earned more than $3 million! Good luck in the future and many happy hours with willing horses. William

thanks for a great article. as a lover of tbs i truly have enjoyed reading it. my quarter horse, preston, is a grandson of three bars (racing tb) and also out of the impressive line which i believe is appendix qh. my other horse, bobbie, is an off the track tb. he raced until he was six and came to me when he was 7. when i competed him in dressage he was mistaken for a wb pretty much all the time. he is a bold ruler and big bodied. i have seen plenty of wbs in dressage with a lighter build than my ottb. i have always wondered what percentage tb was in these wbs. i think preston, my little qh, is absolute proof that the tb makes a good sport horse adding refinement, intelligence and athleticism. what my ottb has so much more of than my qh, is heart. there is a difference there. preston doesn't go too much above the call of duty, bobbie really tried, especially when it was hard for him. it would be so nice to see more appreciation for the tb.

Hi Jen...yes the TB's in each main racing country tend to be thought of as having different charteristics which connects to the type of racing in each country and the different environments in each country. So the American thoroughbred tends to have more precocious families that are sprinters, as they do in Australia, while the huge National Hunt/steeplechase industry in the UK, Ireland and France gives an additional value to those families that jump and 'stay' over longer distances...often the same families that make good sport horse performers. However the origin of the TB's in all countries is the same and the origin of the horses that jump appears to be very similar as has been shown by my research.

The 'Irish' TB has been extraordinarily successful in jumps racing over the last 50 years and there are a large number of breeders, trainers and owners specifically trying to produce successful horses for this sport...something which is increasingly mirrored in France...and this has an impact on sport horse breeding. However it is interesting to see that the best steeplechasers come from specific high level flat racing families...families that jump.

Another factor is that both in Ireland and New Zealand horses tend to thrive and improve over the generations because of the climate and grasslands. All stock seems to improve over the years in these countries and the limestone belts in Ireland, Canada and in Kentucky, for example, do make a difference. This is why many high level youngstock are raised in Ireland before going back to their owner's countries. On the other hand many top class TB's were taken to India and gradually became smaller and slower over the years in that environment.

The Irish love their horses and the TB breeding industry is bigger than that in the UK. Combine this with the needs of the steeplechase industry and the environment and it is no surprise that there are TB sires available and suitable to produce event horses in particular and sport horses in general. However because these sires come from the best of horses in an international flat racing world there is plenty of French and North American blood in these lines....which in turn go back to the same origins and families.

I also believe that the early years of a young horse...birth to four...are crucial and that the Irish horse that is allowed over large areas of undulating ground in all weathers grows up more suited to performance than those hot housed in small areas on flat ground. This is probably a more significant factor than has been realised in the past. Similarly research suggests that brood mares that are allowed more natural 'outdoor' lives produce better stock. Ireland has great advantages in these areas.

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